With 98.6 accuracy, Google AI to tell if diabetes will hamper your eyesight

Google's AI Eye Doctor, an artificial Intelligence algorithm, is being employed in a pilot project in Indian hospitals to detect diabetic retinopathy among patients

Alnoor Peermohamed May 03, 2018 Last Updated at 07:00 IST

Picture this. A woman in her mid-40s walks into a diabetic clinic in a small town in India. Apart from the plethora of tests the physician runs on her, he also photographs her eyes. This picture is then uploaded onto a system that grades the condition of the patient’s retinas and spits out one of two verdicts — visit an ophthalmologist immediately or follow up with another test in the next 12 months.
What the doctor is looking for are signs of diabetic retinopathy (DR), a disease which accounts for 10 per cent of the cases where patients suffering from diabetes lose ...